We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to a lot of different places in our lives, but Capri is absolutely one of the prettiest, most unique and amazing destinations we’ve been to! We will, without a doubt, be back someday. Below is a recap of how we got there, where we stayed, and some of our favorite restaurants and activities on the island.
All outfits from Capri can all be found HERE
How we got there:
It’s a bit of a trek, but so worth it! We flew from Indianapolis, to Chicago, to Munich, and finally to Naples. All in all, about 14 hours of air time. After you land in Naples, It’s about a 15 minute car ride down to the port to catch the ferry to Capri. The ferry took about an hour and we enjoyed our first glass of prosecco!
Arriving in Capri is stunning. The streets just beyond the port have amazing character, color, and charm. Lots of people there moving about, or sitting at a cafe enjoying a meal and the sun, tons of boats available for hire, and a great energy despite the relatively small size of the place compared to some of the other big Italian cities. Our first impressions were “wow this is beautiful” and we knew pretty quickly that we had arrived in a special place.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at the Capri Palace Hotel in Anacapri which is located towards the top of the island. The hotel is nothing short of spectacular and is absolutely one of the nicest places we have ever stayed. Our room overlooked the water, tons of space, nice shower and washroom, bed was incredibly comfortable, food was very good. I could go on – but we have said numerous times, if anyone is ever on the lookout for a beautiful getaway, honeymoon, couples adventure, etc – and wants to splurge a bit, this place is unreal. Not all of the rooms have ocean views, but our friends who didn’t have a view, had private pools, or huge bathtubs, gardens, or some other amazing amenity to compensate.
**Hotel Tip – regardless of where you stay:
Have the hotel front desk help you make reservations for taxis and restaurants. This made things SO much easier for us and they were very happy to help.
A great spot for a cocktail and an incredible view:
Il Riccio Beach Club. It’s tough to describe how beautiful this place is, but it’s a super hip, very fashion forward/trendy outdoor beach club nestled into the cliffs of Anacapri with unobstructed panoramic views of the water. It’s spectacular! We enjoyed a few different types of spritzes: Aperol, Limoncello, and a Hugo with elderflower liqueur.
Getting around in Capri:
One thing we learned very quickly in Capri – the roads are very small and getting around in taxis is pretty much the only way to go. The drivers here are very skilled/experienced, but to get from the harbor to our hotel in Anacapri is about 15-20 minutes of action packed weaving and white knuckle steering through some very tight corridors. If you can stomach it, the views are again, spectacular!
Boat Day – a must do:
This was one of the highlights of our trip! There are tons of different companies to rent a boat for the day. Google “Capri Boat Tours” and you’ll see all the options. We used this one and were out on the water for about a half of a day. We had a captain and our own tour guide to point out different parts of the island. There were drinks and food and some fun music to keep the party going! The view of Capri from the water is beyond gorgeous…. the steep, dramatic cliffs are lined with incredible houses, many of which are owned by famous people which made the tour very entertaining as well. The boat eases in and out of caves/grottos that are filled with sapphire blue water. We were even greeted by a dolphin who swam alongside us for several minutes. It was a magical day and one we won’t ever forget!
(ps. I’m normally a little weary of boats as I can get motion sickness but I did totally fine on this one with no issues!).
Take the chairlift at Monte Solaro:
Next up was the chairlift at Seggiovia Monte Solaro. If you visit Capri, this is must-do as well. The smooth ride takes about 13 minutes to get to the top of Monte Solaro – the highest peak on the island. Once you’re at the top, the views of Capri and the water surrounding it are breathtaking! We stopped to enjoy another spritz and a bite to eat at the cafe at the top before heading back down. Even if you’re a little worried about the height, as I was, I would highly recommend that you do this. You can hike up and down if you choose, but we were told it was a trek!
Shopping and Eating in Capri:
We spent half a day in Capri which is probably for the best because I could have done some serious damage shopping here. Most of my favorite designers have shops in Capri and we visited all of them! The experience in Golden Goose of designing my own shoes was a highlight for sure. We also had one of the best meals of our trip here at Aurora Capri. Bryan ordered a pizza that was so good (super thin crust) we ordered another one to share amongst the four of us for lunch. The pasta was out of this world (definitely order the Truffle Pomperdale) and the wine list was fantastic. We sat at this restaurant for almost two hours and enjoyed everything that was served to us. Highly recommend!
Da Paolino – the lemon restaurant!
Lemons are amazing in Capri and they are everywhere. If you’ve never had limoncello prior to visiting, you are in for a treat. We had gotten a recommendation to visit the restaurant Da Paolino in Capri and it did not disappoint. If you have a wine lover in your group, this place was amazing. Bryan got to go into their cellar and talk through tons of different wine before selecting a bottle. He absolutely loved that. The scenery at this restaurant is amazing – you are literally sitting under enormous lemon trees that have woven their way through pergolas to help support them. Some of these lemons are as big as our cantaloupes at home. It’s impressive! The food was delicious and the wine was awesome! Don’t miss the dessert room….Yes, they have a whole room full of desserts! Yum!
A Handful of Capri Tips:
- You will want to have some cash in hand for taxis, but most other places we visited (restaurants, cafes, etc) took a credit card
- Make reservations when possible for dinner & have the hotel do this for you. There are only so many restaurants on the island and if you’re there during busy season they will definitely be busy.
- If you’re someone that gets carsick (or sick on a boat) make sure to bring something to take if need be. We got used to the taxis pretty fast, but I could see how this might be challenging for someone who gets sick easily.
Things we would change:
- We would stay 1-2 more days, heck, maybe a week. It’s just so gorgeous there and the food is DELICIOUS.
- We would have waited to go into the Blue Grotto or book a separate little outing for that – the wait to go into the grotto was over an hour so we didn’t want to take that time away from our boat tour.
Overall, we can’t recommend Capri enough ESPECIALLY if you are looking for a romantic trip – anniversary, birthday or just a kid free relaxing vacation. From Capri we took about an hour boat ride to our next stop, Positano! That full post will be up later this week!
Ciao!
We spent half a day there on a school trip around Italy and Greece. Honestly a highlight of the trip. I wish we could’ve spent a lot more time there. If you go back, I would 100% recommend checking out Carthusia Profumi di Capri. It’s this wonderful perfume shop right in the port of Capri. All of the perfumes smell wonderful and the staff are wonderful! I also recommend spending a night or two in Sorrento and then from there taking a day trip to Pompeii. The ruins are incredible to see and learn about. Outside of the ruins, in modern Pompeii, there’s a super cool cameo shop, Cellini Gallery Cameos & Corals. They make a bunch of jewelry and some other cool art works, but they actually have someone there who hand makes them all and you can watch as the carve it from the shells. Just outside that is a restaurant that has the best pizza ever. I was with a group of 7, me included, and 6 of us got the margarita pizzas and ate the whole thing. In that area too there’s a really good little vendor, Chalet Donna Lucia, that has the most incredible fresh orange juice. If you want to know any other cool places to check out in Italy and a couple places in Greece, just let me know!
I enjoyed your info about Capri. Looking forward to your info on Positano we are thinking of visiting soon